Study Guide

Hominids and their Characteristics

Australopithecus-Name means 'southern ape.' Appeared in Africa about 4~5 million years ago. Stood upright and walked on two legs. Brain was one-third the size of a modern human.
Homo habilis-Name means 'handy man.' Appeared in Africa about 2.4 million years ago. Used early stone tools for chopping and scraping. Brain was about one half of a modern human.
Homo erectus-Name means 'upright man.' Appeared in Africa about 2~1.5 million years ago. Learned to control fire. Moved out of Africa into Asia and Europe.
Home sapiens-Name means 'wise man.'

Chronological order-please do not mess up. It makes reading much easier.

Australopithecus-means 'southern ape'/appeared in Africa about 4~5 million years ago/stood up and walked on two legs/brain is one-third the size of modern human/
Homo habilis-means 'handy man'/appeared in Africa about 2.4 million years ago/used early stone tools for chopping and scraping/brain is half the size of modern humans/
Homo erectus-means 'upright man'/appeared in Africa about 2~1.5 million years ago/used early stone tools like the hand ax/learned to control fire/migrated out into Asia and Europe/
Homo sapiens-means 'wise man'/appeared in Africa about 200,000 years ago/migrated around the world/learned to create fir and to use a wide variety of tools/developed language/

food source...?
-can someone get the worksheet and write the information on there on here?

People went into more details
People didn't have migrate to get food
People use better tools and get more harvest.
People can now have food without hunting.
People came up with new tools that are more advanced.
A reliable food source now provided them with surplus time as well as food.
Now people can practice other unique skills such as pottery, embroidery, crafting, etc.
More tools.
People domesticated animals. They also advanced in agriculture such as starting to pick out the best seeds that produce the most amount of grains and started reproducing the good seeds over and over again.
More food=more people. Babies didn't die as much. People got sick less because of the abundance of food.
People lived in bigger clusters. This enabled people to help each other and obtain even more food.
Less land was needed because most people farmed instead of hunting. So, more people were able to use the land since land was divided into smaller pieces. People didn't starve so much as they did before.
People started to trade with one another.
They used obsidian to make knife blades and mirrors.
People replaced animal skins with cotton and silk.

Agriculture-domestication of animals and plants
Ancestor-a relative who lived in the past
Archaeology-the study of the past based on what people left behind
Artifacts-an object created and used by humans
Culture-the knowledge, beliefs, customs, and values of a group of people
Domestication-to change plants/animals so they are more useful to humans
Fossil-a part or imprint of something that was alive
History-the study of the past
Hominid-an early ancestor of humans
Hunter-gatherer- People who hunt animals and gather plants and seeds
Mesolithic Era- 'middle stone' era
Neolithic Era-'new stone' era
Paleolithic Era- 'old stone' era
Prehistory-the time before writing was developed
Selective Breeding-the technique where you take the desired traits of a plant/animal and only plant/breed those so the traits are in the next generation
Society-community of people who share a common culture
Surplus-extra/more than enough
Tool-a tool is a hand held object that has been modified to help a person accomplish a task

BCE-before the common era (BC)
CE-common era (AD)
BC-before christ (BCE)
AD-anno domini- 'in the year of our lord' (CE)
c.-circa; term that means 'about'
decade-10 years
century-100 years
millennium-1000 years
era-period of time marked by an a single cultural event, change, or person
age-period of time marked by an even bigger cultural event, change, or person